1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to process surveillance and more particularly to a distributed system for analyzing data collected by reviewing work documents, inspecting work areas and passively observing work in progress.
2. Description of the Related Art
Present process surveillance systems typically have problems related to the constant manual input of data. Process surveillance systems generally utilize clipboards or some form of electronic device to collect process data. The collected process data then has to be manually entered into a spreadsheet or database. Once the data is entered, it has to be organized so that it can be charted and graphed. Reports need to be created manually as well. The manual entering and creation of charts, graphs, and reports takes considerable man-hours to accomplish.
In order to share the collected process data, a copy of the file needs to be exchanged. Any changes to the original file does not appear in copies of the data file, thus creating discrepancies among the collected data.
To collect process data, observation criteria information is needed to guide the inspector in what to observe. Changes to the observation criteria information often take considerable time to become available to the inspector. Time delays also occur when requirements or changes to the process take place.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,764,509 and 6,181,975, both issued to Gross, et al., and both entitled, “Industrial Process Surveillance System” disclose a system and method for monitoring an industrial process and/or industrial data source. The system includes generating time varying data from industrial data sources, processing the data to obtain time correlation of the data, determining the range of data, determining learned states of normal operation and using these states to generate expected values, comparing the expected values to current actual values to identify a current state of the process closest to a learned, normal state; generating a set of modeled data, and processing the modeled data to identify a data pattern and generating an alarm upon detecting a deviation from normalcy. This system does not appear to be random in any fashion and may therefore be inadequate for statistical analysis purposes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,138, issued to Aycock, et al., entitled, “Apparatus and Method for Providing Interactive Evaluation of Potential Vendors”, discloses an arrangement for providing an interactive evaluation of suppliers as proposed vendors for a project. A supplier evaluation system comprises a database storing a plurality of maturity requirements and recognized quality standards, and a main processing system for compiling selected standards and quality maturity requirements in accordance with project objectives. The project requirements are supplied by a communication network to a supplier in the form of an interactive supplier self-evaluation system. Alternatively, the supplier self-evaluation system may be provided to a supplier on a CD-ROM. The supplier self-evaluation system is arranged to include a plurality of objective questions corresponding to the selected maturity requirements. A supplier may selectively access local database files on the CD-ROM for information regarding the selected maturity requirements, or may remotely access the supplier evaluation system databases for supplemental information. After uploading the supplier responses to the supplier evaluation system, a supplier maturity level is calculated. An on-site supplier audit is thereafter conducted to confirm supplier responses and to obtain any additional information. Supplier approval is dependent upon a minimum supplier maturity level based upon the scored supplier responses to the maturity questions and the on-site audit. This system, like the Gross et al system described above, does not appear to be random. Furthermore, it is focused relative to the evaluation of vendors.